ALABAR NEWSSPRING EDITION

MAJOR IN ARTAlready the sire of four trial/workout winners

or placegetters!

It’s Sale TimeThere is still plenty of time to make a decision about breeding your mare this season, so here is a little incentive for you.

Many of you have been loyal Alabar clients over the years so this is an opportunity to reward you with Sale Prices on three of the stallions Alabar totally own - Elsu, Grinfromeartoear and Great Success.

We are reducing the service fees on these three stallions by $1,000, $1,000 and $750 respectively. So here are the new prices for the remainder of the 2012/13 season:

Grinfromeartoear $3,000 incl GSTElsu $1,750 incl GSTGreat Success $1,500 incl GST

These prices are for the normal Pay on 45 day Positive Pregnancy Test and are not available for the Pay on Live Foal.

Please call Liz (Alabar Office) 03 5859 2201 or John Coffey 0418 500 211 if you wish to avail yourselves of this offer.

The debut crop of Art Official’s went through the ring this year in North America and created quite the impression.

At the famed Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, Art Official’s first two yearlings sold for $60,000 and $140,000!

The $140,000 colt (pictured above) is the first colt from the Western Hanover mare See And Be Seen 1:54 - $229,043. She in turn is a sister to the Well Said 1:47.6 - $2,569,342.

Art Official was of course the only horse to ever defeat Somebeachsomewhere and is a magnificent looking stallion.

His first downunder crop will hit the sales in 2013 and if the foals we have seen, like the one on the right, are any indication of the overall quality of his stock, then there should be some big prices across Australian and New Zealand as well!

It’s Official

Art Official - Divine Colt

Gotta Go Cullect has received tremendous support from breeders and that support is about to come to fruition this season as his debut crop hit the tracks.

Recently at Greg Payne’s Ready To Run 2yo trials Gotta Xcellerate (Gotta Go Cullect - Artistic Lass colt )set the track alight. He was Greg’s fastest 2yo running a half in 56.2!

“This Gotta Go Cullect colt has impeccable manners. He has excellent gait with high speed and can also stay.”

“He is the first and only Gotta Go Cullect I’ve had and I wish I had more. “

“He ran a 56.2 half at Ashburton at my ready to run on the 2 Nov 12 on a gusty day. He was the fastest of all the two-year-olds to trial.” – Trainer, Greg Payne

About to CullectGotta Xcellerate

Much has already been written and said about the rarity of the colour of the Courage Under Fire / Telern Hilda colt born at Alabar in

October 2012.

However, it is probably not widely known that this young, white lad is a descendant of arguably the best and most prolific family of Classic Winners in Australia today.

His dam Telern Hilda is by Presidential Ball from the Walton Hanover mare Imbula, who is a grand daughter of the champion mare Mozambique.

Mozambique, as many students of the breeding will recall, is one of the three sisters - Gay Acres and Gay Debutante the other two - that provided the Newbound brothers Kevin and Leo with so much success as breeders during the last 30 years of the 20th century.

Gay Acres was the dam of Classic Garry amongst many other winners, whilst Mozambique produced six winners and is the ancestress of a host of champions and Classic winners including Mother Courage 1:56.9, Tandias Courage 1:53.6, Penny Veejay 1:54, Led Suitcase 1:55.8, La Machane 1:56.7, Nolarama 1:56.8, Newbold Penny, Lord Marques 1:52.8 and the list goes on and on.

So if this boy is the first white colt born in Australia, it is fitting that he is a member of Australia’s premier female family.

He might be White in Colour, but he’s Purple in Pedigree!

Cou

rage

U

nder

Fire In The Pocket

Direct ScooterBlack Jade

Advance DebraVance HanoverDeborah Dundee

Tele

rn H

ilda

Presidential BallCam FellaI Marilyn

ImbulaWalton HanoverZanzibar

The Channel 10 news crew filiming the white colt for a story which aired nationally.

Indescribable, Exhilarating, Revelation.

These are some of the words that Swan Hill real estate agent Noel Watson recently used to describe his ownership of the Grinfromeartoear 5yo Saint Flash.

Noel is enjoying the ride of his life at the moment and to this point it culminated with the thrilling victory in the Nyah Cup on the 20th October 2012 Saint Flash winning the Maryborough Cup

at the opening night of the new Swan Hill circuit.

To not only defy the rising star Bitobliss a victory, but to do it on your brand new home track in front of a crowd of 6,000 roaring fans will be a memory that will live long and proudly in Noel’s household.

Then two weeks later Saint Flash proved that this victory was not a bit of home town luck by adding the $25,000 Maryborough Cup to the trophy cabinet.

Saint Flash is the first foal from Torridon, a mare purposefully purchased to breed to Grinfromeartoear.

“It has become very obvious that Safely Kept and Panorama mares are the right cross to breed to Grinfromeartoear and this is why I pursued this Safely Kept mare” said Noel recently.

Of course Safely Kept, Panorama and Grinfromeartoear all descend from the wonderful Golden Miss family so it has been remarkable but true that four of Grinfromeartoear’s best progeny in this part of the world are from mares by Panorama or Safely Kept.

These four are: Smiling Shard 1:53.7 - $1.178 million, Make Me Smile 1:54.6 - $517,520, Rocknrolla 1:57.1 - $287,220 and Saint Flash 1:56.1 - $188,470.

Noel now has a yearling sister and a colt foal brother to Saint Flash to work with in the future whilst the mare is about to be bred to Mach Three.

Will the flash of lightning strike twice or thrice for Noel? Time will tell.

Real Desire - Real SireHow many stallions can boast a USTA Pacer of the Year from his debut Northern Hemisphere crop?

What about an Australasian Breeders Crown 2yo Final winner from his debut Southern Hemisphere crop? Not only that but a further two Group One winning 2yo pacers from that same Southern Hemisphere crop?

You’ll find the list is very short but Real Desire is on it!

Real Desire didn’t have a 2yo crop last season but his second Southern Hemisphere crop will race this season as 2yos.

A brilliant 2yo sire, Real Desire has had very good support resuming shuttling, including over 200 mares last season, so from now on he will have continuous crops.

This fact, plus his siring ability, makes him an excellent option for your mare this season.

“It has become very obvious that Safely

Kept and Panorama mares are the right

cross to breed to Grinfromeartoear and

this is why I pursued this Safely Kept mare”

This Flash isn’t One in the Pan

Best Of Memories is the dam of the champ Mr Feelgood and is a daughter of the champion racemare Leah Almahurst - a mare who provided many great and fond memories for her owners Brittany Farms in Kentucky, in a career that grossed $1.053 million in prizemoney.

Of course the USA and Australian owners of the handsome man Mr Feelgood have also accumulated many great memories from his career that resulted in 39 wins and over $3.366 million.

Mr Feelgood’s impact on memories though is not restricted to his own brilliant career. Following his Little Brown Jug win in 2006, Mr Feelgood retired briefly to stud duties and a smallish crop of 23 foals were born in the USA in 2008.

The memories have been lasting also for the owners of some of these horses. Im Feelin Good, now a 4yo has taken a record of 1:49.6 and $389,115 in the bank. In September last year he easily won the $250,000 Kentucky Sires Stakes Final for 3yo colts, whilst of the same programme the Mr Feelgood filly Feels Good 1:53.4 took home the trophy in the 3yo Fillies Final.

Those 23 foals have now won in excess of $985,275 with 6 taking 1:55 records.

What a great start to the siring career of a great horse.

Best Of Memories For the owners of Im Feelin Good

What’s to come

Following his win in the 2009 Inter Dominion, Mr Feelgood had some semen frozen and in 2009/10 it was used on a select number of high quality mares and resulted in 17 foals the following year.

Those foals are now 2yos and are impressing their trainers up and down the Eastern seaboard. Good Feelings, the gelding above, is one particular 2yo which has drawn high praise from his trainer.

Kylie Rasmussen has broken in a number of them and trained them in their next preparation. She recently described them as “uniformly terrific pacers, very fluent in their action with intelligence and great attitudes to their work.”

Downunder?

Im Feeling Good

Feels Good

Good Feelings, a gelding from Good

Lookin Girl.

How or why did you get started in Breeding Standardbreds? It sounded like a good idea at the time! My wife is a vet, and fairly early on in the piece we thought it might be fun to race a horse together, so we went to the yearling sales and ended up coming home with a filly. She made the Vicbred 2yo fillies final, but she only had limited ability, and when she didn’t show much improvement as a 3yo we had a decision to make – sell or breed. By that stage, we were living in Scotland, just outside Edinburgh, and since she was already agisting on a stud farm, it seemed easier just to put her in foal. In the end , she actually managed to produce 4 winners from only 5 foals, although none of them were overly blessed with ability. When we eventually returned to Australia, we decided to set ourselves up on 40 acres and set up our own breeding operation. We’ve deliberately kept ourselves small, so that we can spend plenty of one-on-one time with each foal and carefully monitor each foals growth and development.

How many Broodmares do you currently own and are breeding from? We currently have seven broodmares on our property, although we would probably like to cut that back to five, simply to keep our workload down. In recent times, we’ve been fortunate to acquire some nice mares like Pole Dancer, Saved A Corka and Thats

My Secret NZ, but my favourite mare is Tigress Franco NZ – she’s a big, powerful Falcon Seelster mare from a lovely New Zealand family. She’s a full-sister to a Group One winner and she could’ve been a top class mare herself if it hadn’t been for injuries. She put her leg through the fence three times as a young horse which kept setting her back. What is your main criteria when purchasing or selecting a future Broodmare?My perfect mare would be a young, well conformed mare, that had her share of ability on the track, and hails from an exceptional maternal family. Ideally, she’ll have at least 4 or 5 wins against her name, but it is acceptable if she doesn’t if there is a legitimate reason (e.g. because she broke down). I’ve had some decent success with smaller mares, so it doesn’t worry me if the mare is on the smaller side, although anything under 15 hands would concern me if I was looking to take the progeny to the sales. When it comes to choosing Stallions for your mares , what are the parameters you look for? I think that different stallions will suit different breeders, depending upon what

your goals are. Personally, my goal is to breed a Breeders Crown Champion or a Victorian Derby or Oaks winner, so I tend to be looking for stallions that I believe are most likely to produce horses of that calibre. At the present time, that is stallions like Art Major, Bettors Delight, Courage Under Fire, Mach Three, Rocknroll Hanover and Somebeachsomewhere. I am a big believer in statistics, so I tend to do a lot of research to try to identify what crosses seem to work best, and which ones don’t. There is a wealth of statistical information available on the US, Australian and New Zealand websites nowadays, and I think that while there is no magic recipe to success, if you invest the time and effort to analyse all the statistics, you can at least improve your odds of breeding a good horse, and avoid some obvious mistakes. Beyond the statistical side of things, I also like to look at the physical and behavioural characteristics of my mares, and make sure that I choose a sire that complements those characteristics. So, for example, if I owned a mare that brushed her knee I would try to go to a stallion tended to produce straight legged, clean gaited horses. Similarly, if I had a mare that was a bit hot headed, I would try to avoid sires that had a tendency to produce foals with fiery temperaments.

Question Time:

DAVID BOYDELLAustralian Pacing Gold General Manager

&Harness Racing Breeder

Mach Three - Tigress Franco Colt

We all know who the leading Stallions are, who does David Boydell think are the up and coming Stallions and reasons for? If I am going to breed to an unproven sire, it needs to be a sire that was an outstanding racehorse himself. He needs to have been the best (or perhaps second best) horse of his year. I want him to have consistently competed against the best of his age and beaten them, rather than being a flash in the pan that won one or two big races, but failed to dominate for any extended period of time. I want the horse to have shown good ability as a two-year old, but it is as a three-year old that I really want to have seen him dominate. There are probably close to twenty unproven sires available in the Southern Hemisphere that fit the above criteria at least to some degree. If I had to pick one which had the potential to join the ranks of the “super sires” it would have to be Well Said. He’s only available by frozen semen in the Southern Hemisphere, but I think that he has all the traits necessary to be an elite stallion – he was an outstanding racehorse, he hails from a very strong maternal family, and he is by Western Hanover, who has already proven his ability to produce sons that in turn become elite sires. I’m hearing rave reviews about his North American yearlings, so I think that as a Breeder trying to predict the trends, Well Said is a stallion that it is worth taking a risk with. Alabar obviously has a number of up and coming stallions which have the credentials to be successful, including Art Official, Big Jim, Gotta Go Cullect, Major In Art, Mister Big, Mr Feelgood, Santanna Blue Chip, Safari, Shadow Play and Tiz A Masterpiece. Realistically, there are things to like about all of them, but the laws of nature tell you that some will succeed while others will struggle. Which will succeed and which will fail … it is impossible to say. However, for the breeder on a limited budget, I think Gotta Go Cullect is a very interesting proposition, while I think that Big Jim could turn out to be an astute choice for the commercial breeder in year one. His size, his looks, his two-year old

speed, and the fact that he is by Western Ideal should all be positive factors for buyers at the yearling sales.

What is the standard of Entries like for the two main APG Sales in Melbourne and Sydney next year? On paper, I think this is the strongest draft of yearlings that APG has ever catalogued, and I have little doubt that that will be reflected in their performance on the racetrack. To put it in perspective, last year APG catalogued 268 horses for its Melbourne Premium and Melbourne Sales. The dams of those 268 horses had collectively won a little under $9 million in prizemoney and had produced 57 foals that had already won over $100,000. By contrast, the dams of the 190 horses that we’ve catalogued for the 2013 APG Melbourne Sale have collectively won an amazing $13.7 million in prizemoney and produced 69 foals that have already won over $100,000. What was the main reason for canceling the Premium Sale? It was a combination of factors. I think there can be no doubt that the Premium Sale played an important role in lifting the overall standard of breeding and presentation amongst APG’s vendors and attracting new buyers to the sales, particularly from Western Australia and New Zealand. However, while the Premium Sales delivered a number of benefits, the cost of conducting the Premium Sales was extremely high, and that impacted upon APG’s ability to devote budget dollars to other areas of its operations. Accordingly, after performing a detailed review post the 2012 sales, the Board felt that in the current economic and industry climate, both APG and its vendors would be better served if APG discontinued the Premium Sales and looked at ways to pass those cost savings back to vendors in the form of lower entry fees, commission and sustaining charges. Besides the significant cost savings that APG has been able to achieve and pass back

to vendors, APG hopes that the timing of the new sales schedule, particularly in Melbourne, will assist to create an improved supply to demand ratio at the APG Sales, and may help to ease cash flow pressures for a number of trainers and buyers. What are your expectations for the Melbourne Autumn Sale? Given that this will be the first year that APG is conducting this type of Autumn sale, it is difficult to have any set expectations. However, we hope that the timing of the sale encourages trainers that may have already purchased a horse at the traditional Melbourne Sale to back up again and purchase a second horse, safe in the knowledge that they’ve already found clients to buy into the first horse. We also hope that the sale will appeal to those buyers who were unsuccessful bidders at the Melbourne Sale, as well as those buyers that typically experience poor cash flow in the post-Christmas period, but are better positioned in March. In assessing the success or otherwise of the 2013 Sales, I think it will be important to look at the overall performance of the combined Melbourne and Melbourne Autumn Sales, rather than solely focusing on each sale in isolation. It will be particularly interesting and valuable to look at the overall results for those vendors that have strong drafts in both sales, and get their feedback as to how their overall draft performed compared to expectations. APG is very appreciative of the vendor support that it has received for the Melbourne Autumn Sale, both in terms of numbers and quality. The sale will feature yearlings by a number of Australia’s leading sires, such as Art Major, Bettors Delight and Mach Three, along with progeny of proven sires such as Grinfromeartoear and Village Jasper, as well as exciting first and second crop sires including Major In Art, Santanna Blue Chip and Shadow Play. I am confident that once trainers and buyers begin to leaf through the pedigree pages, they will quickly appreciate that the sale is not lacking in quality.

“I think Gotta Go Cullect is a very interesting

proposition, while I think that Big Jim could turn out

to be an astute choice for the commercial breeder...

”

Shadow Play Yearlings Sell to $135,000 at

Harrisburg!

The Shadow Play yearlings were well recieved with the colt above selling for $135,000.

Look for his Southern Hemisphere yearlings at all the major sales in 2013!

$3.36 Million - A Great Earn!Despite the presence of Somebeachsomewhere in the ranks of 2008’s 3yo colts, Shadow Play, Art Official and Santanna Blue Chip still had combined season earnings of $3.36 million.

In addition Art Official set a new World Record in winning the $1 million Meadowlands Pace whilst Shadow Play put his name in World Record books after winning the Adios Pace and Little Brown Jug.

These facts in themselves tell the story of what a magnificent crop emerged out of the 2005 foaling paddocks in the USA.

Art Official defeating Somebeachsomewhere in the Meadowlands Pace

The following is an article that we wrote in 2010 and two horses amongst the magnificent four - Somebeachsomewhere, Art Official, Shadow Play and Santanna Blue Chip have commenced their stud career in style.

Why is it that in some years, two or three or four colts are born that are exceptional and in other years there doesn’t appear to be a stand out at all?

In 2002 in North America, Art Major, Mach Three and McArdle all showed “Champion” status while dominating the 3yo ranks. A year earlier Bettors Delight and Real Desire won over $3.4 million between them. Any one of those five colts would have won the Dan Patch Award in most other years in the early 2000’s.

Another outstanding batch of sophomores greeted the racetracks of

North America in 2008 and included Somebeachsomewhere, Shadow Play, Art Official and Santanna Blue Chip.

Somebeachsomewhere won over $2.44 million for the season and richly deserved his Dan Patch Award for 3yo Colt of the Year.

Many experts considered him to be the greatest 3yo ever, so it was a feather in the cap of Shadow Play to actually take some votes away from the “Beach” in the years end voting.

Then of course there was that memorable

Meadowlands Pace of 2008, when the game Art Official inflicted the one and only defeat on Somebeachsomewhere.

The fact that both Shadow Play and Art Official returned to the racetrack as 4yos and were able not only to compete in the tough FFA ranks but defeat the mighty Mister Big says it all about their sheer ability.

Over the years it has taken a very special horse to win one of the major FFA races as a 4yo - many have tried but it has taken only a champion to do it.

all classThe class of 2008 was

So soon it will be time for Shadow Play and Art Official to show their stuff from the breeding shed and they too will succeed. Recent history tells us that!

Shadow Play winning the Little Brown Jug

Sounds like a description of the fastest man on Earth Usain Bolt, but on this occasion it refers to the fastest ever 2yo son of the great sire Western Ideal.

Although never having been able to sire big crop of foals, Western ideal has made a big impact on the breed in the early years of this 21st Century.

His first crop greeted the racetracks in 2004 and from this crop emerged the first 2yo to ever break the 1:50 barrier in Rocknroll Hanover as well as the World Champion, millionaire filly Cabrini Hanover 1:51.

Western Ideal could well be a breed changing sire and as great as he is, it wasn’t until 2010 that he sired his first 2yo of the Year.... Big Jim.

After a 10 start debut season that resulted in wins in the Breeders Crown Final, Governors Cup, Champlain Stakes, Nassagaweya Stakes and an elimination of the Metro Stakes, Big Jim was voted by both USA and Canadian judges as the 2yo of the Year in both countries.

Big Jim arrived in New Zealand in late August for his first downunder stud season and is fast approaching a book of 150 mares. There is still two months of breeding time left but with only around 20 vacancies it would be wise to be making a decision.

He has already bred some outstanding mares including:Tirols Sallance 2:00.3 - NZ 2yo Filly of the Year.Apache Sunrise 2:00.7 - $118,693Jessica Jasper 1:57.3 - $126,570Sabine - Full sister to Roman Gladiator 1:55.8 - $424,510Crystal Still - Half sister to Simply Electric 1:58.4 - $248,660Fiji Babee - Full sister to Marika 1:57.2 - $275,100Lasnicks Lass - Half sister to Ball Gown 1:51 - $534,675Plus the dams of:Royal Verdict 1:53.5 - $521,060Bainfeild Washington 1:51.8 - $160,700Shinydes 1:55.6 - $144,600

Breeding HintThere is strong evidence that the Rasmussen Factor (inbreeding to a superior female) can produce an outstanding or champion racehorse - eg Cardigan Bay, Sportswriter, Smiling Shard and many more.

Although not a true Rasmussen breeding pattern, the mating of Life Sign mares to Big Jim does give the resulting foal a double cross of the highly influential mare K Nora, as well as a 3 x 4 cross to Abercrombie (also mounting evidence that this is a desirable cross).

For more information on this please call John Coffey on 0418 500 211 or Brett Coffey on 03 5859 2100.

HE’S BIG, A WORLD CHAMPION AND VERY FAST

BIG JIM

The Ingots are On The Move

MAJESTIC STATS FROM FIRST TWO CROPS

Majestic Son was a champion racehorse winning over $1.8 million and he is now establishing himself as a leading stallion.

From his two small crops of just 104 2 & 3yos, 77 have started, 46 have won, 30 have recorded best times of 2:00 or better and 9 have earnings in excess of $100,000!

This season he is the 2nd Leading 2yo Trotting Stallion (by average earnings per foal) and also ranked in the top 10 Leading 3yo Trotting Stallions (by average earnings per foal) in North America.

MURMUR HANOVER t, 1:55.4 - $414,457. CIRCLES (M) t, 1:56.2 - $385,677. CHARMED LIFE (M) t, 1:57.8 - $250,945. LOVELY VACATION (M) t, 1:54.6 - $248,567. SUMMER INDIAN t, 1:56 - $216,500.MAJESTIZED t, 1:57.6 - $210,000. MIKEY HANOVER t, 1:55.2 - $173,984.MAJESTIC TAGLET (M) t, 1:56 - $114,736.

Allamerican Ingot is a real classy looking son of one of the breed’s greatest ever sires, Western Hanover.

On the racetrack he won the Woodrow Wilson Final, Messenger Stakes, a heat of the Little Brown Jug and over $1.238 million. All of this was accomplished racing against a crop that included Art Major, Mach Three and McArdle.

At stud in the USA, Allamerican Ingot has sired, from five crops, 120 pacers to have taken 1:55 records and four with 1:50 records.

Well his siring career downunder is about to take off as well. His first Aussie crop total 70 foals and he has sired the first and only 2yo trial winner in WA (to 1/11/12).

That filly named Highest Royalty, winner at Byford on the 23rd September, is the fourth foal from the Classic Garry mare Class And Brass 2:00.6, a winner of 5 races in WA. She in turn is a daughter of the 1987 NSW Oaks winner Big Bucks 1:58.3.

Allamerican Ingot is siring strong and impressive foals and it would be no surprise to see him have a big impact on 2yo racing in WA later this season.

Murmur Hanover

Circles

Sam NatiCEO Harness Racing NSW

On the back of the successful Race Fields litigation and the sale of Harold Park, the harness racing industry in NSW can look forward to significant growth and reason for much optimism. Prizemoney levels in FY13 are projected to top $31 million, a huge increase on the $28 million paid in FY12 which was a record. While the great majority of this money is being distributed through the Principal Club, stakes driven by the Controlling Body are also increasing. The Nominator’s (or Breeder’s) Bonus announced in June 2010 comes to life next season and, once fully rolled out, will inject a further $1 million back into the breeding sector. This is an exciting development and replicates similar incentive schemes in place in other states. Construction of a new track at Bathurst is scheduled to commence in January and other infrastructure projects at Wagga, Tamworth, Newcastle, Goulburn, Menangle Park and Penrith are planned pending final Board Approval. Of equal importance, however, is the continued improvements and application of regulatory and integrity strategies to attain the utopian position of racing on a level playing field. An additional $700,000 is being spent in FY13 to support that outcome.

John AndersonCEO Harness Racing Victoria

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to Alabar’s publication at a time when I can see genuine confidence in the Victorian breeding industry.

The lucrative Vicbred program distributed $6.5m in stakes and win bonuses last season.

Now we have the new ‘Vicbred Platinum’ series which will add $3.4m in incentives over the next four years, primarily to mares and lower assessed horses. The program is jointly funded by HRV and the Victorian Government.

The splitting of genders for Vicbred and Breeders Crown trotters at two, three and four has commenced providing additional incentives for trotting fillies.

Semen transportation and shuttling stallions has now given Victorian breeders access to the world’s best. These are indeed exciting times for breeders, a far cry from what was feared at the time of EI.

Barry Hamilton RWWA Harness Racing Manager

Has there ever been a better time to be involved in Harness racing in Western Australia?

While there is no doubt that the industry has lost a fair number of owners and breeders over the last few years, there is also no doubt in my mind that now is the time to get involved as a breeder or owner.

Harness Racing continues to see a significant increase in wagering turnover in WA. This is one of the most important diagnostics in terms of measuring industry health and shows very clearly that we are starting to reinstall confidence in the industry and that people are returning to having a bet on our product. This increased turnover is important of as it significantly contributes to the Harness distribution and allows us to increase our stakes at a steady rate.

While WA continues to offer some of the best stakes in Australia we are always seeking to improve. A plan is in place to focus on our provincial stakes over the next three years and have all our provincial tracks racing for $7,000 a race

The recent decision to bring forward the Westbred Breeder bonus to pay breeders 12.5 % of the stakes earned has been a welcomed decision by the industry. This money is in addition to the already existing 1st win Westbred Breeder Bonus and 1st Win Westbred Owner payments.

So in answer to the question raised at the beginning of the article - Has there ever been a better time to be involved in Harness racing in WA? ABSOLUTELY NOT !

Breeding a horse is a long term commitment. You want to be sure that the industry is heading in the right direction and you need to have confidence that there will be a strong racing scene when your foal is ready to hit the track.

So why have the confidence to breed? We asked the CEOs of a few Australian states to tell you just why you should have the confidence to put your mare in foal.

Looking for Confidence?

(03) 5859 2201www.alabar.com.au

SERVICE FEEPay on positive test: $1,650 (incl GST)Pay on live foal: $2,000 (incl GST)

SAFARI

A stakeswinner at 2, Safari excelled at the FFA level. His racetrack highlight was perhaps when he defeated Blacks A Fake in the Group One $125,000 Ballarat Pacing Cup. Or was it when he set an Australasian record of 1:55.7 over 2650 metres in the Group Two Bendigo Pacing Cup?

Horses as good as Safari have multiple highlights throughout their career.

Record Breaking son of Fake Left

Fake Left - Star Chaser - Torado Hanover

1:55.7 - $535,445